A retrograde step

BY BENDING BACKWARDS to please another ally, this time in the Punjab, the NDA Government has set wrong precedents and added to the problem on the foodgrains front. The much-touted Punjab package - Rs. 350 crores in all and a lowering of standards in procurement - may provide a breather to the crisis-ridden Akali Government of Mr. Parkash Singh Badal and take the vociferous farmers off the roads, but it is going to add to the woes of the Food Corporation of India. It is not surprising that its chairman, Mr. Bhure Lal, wants to step down. The sub- standard paddy that will now flood the procurement centres in the food bowl of the country will only add to the formidable buffer stocks, to rot in the godowns. By the next season, it would be dubbed `unfit for human consumption'. Mr. Badal has moved heaven and earth, the Finance Minister and Breach Candy hospital, to secure this special relief package to assuage his farmers, who had effectively blocked all forms of transport by road and rail. With State elections due next year, Opposition parties had also joined the farmers in demanding immediate relief from the Centre and the Chief Minister had to do something to prove himself and his clout with the NDA. Haryana will demand the same favour.

Leaving aside the cash compensation or relief per se,what raises serious questions in this package is the move to procure paddy with damaged, discoloured, sprouted and weeviled grain up to 8 per cent, against the norm of just three per cent. Bowing to the Punjab lobby, the Centre had already agreed to raise the damage limit to 7 per cent just two days ago and this has been further compromised to 8 per cent. Similarly, the moisture content was being raised to 18 per cent. The other controversial step taken under pressure from Mr. Badal's Government last month was to advance the start of procurement for the season. Instead of waiting till the October 1 launch, paddy procurement was initiated on September 21 itself because of the unseasonal rain. As such, substantial stocks of immature grain with a relatively high moisture content was dumped by the farmers. This was naturally taken at lower than the Minimum Support Price of Rs. 540 per quintal. Under the new package, the Centre and the State will compensate some of the loss sustained by the farmers, thanks to a Rs. 100-crore relief jointly agreed to by the Centre and the State Government.

It is disturbing to note that procurement standards and specifications are being lowered for the second time in three years. Despite the hesitation of the officials in the Food Ministry and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in accepting such low norms, it has been a political decision. It is unfortunate that public sector undertakings such as the FCI or the State Trading Corporation (STC) are being forced to compromise not only on standards, but also in sinking precious resources in procuring foodgrains and crops which cannot be issued through the Public Distribution System or sold in the market. There can be no doubt that so long as these institutions remain with the Government, they cannot be run efficiently or profitably. When the private trade refuses to buy up a crop because of a glut or poor quality, the FCI and the STC are being forced to intervene and bear the burden for political expediency. With the Planning Commission and the RBI already concerned about the spiraling fiscal deficit and subsidies, the Centre could ill afford to take on this additional burden. Instead of wasting Rs. 350 crores in such relief, the Centre could use the assistance to promote better crop planning and the production of pulses for instance. In the present agricultural scenario, a lot of rethinking on crops may be imperative without compromising on food security. At any rate, such sell-outs to State Governments run by alliance partners have to stop sometime.

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